Education, Medical, Continuing

Academic Medicine: Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges

The pharmaceutical industry's wide range of interactions with physicians, trainees, and other medical professionals--interactions that include information transfer and financial incentives--has been the source of undue influences, especially on physicians' prescription behavior. Current literature has mainly been focused on the financial element of these influences, and the problems in medical professional-pharmaceutical industry interactions are mainly viewed in terms of conflicts of interest.

Journal of Cancer Education: The Official Journal of the American Association for Cancer Education

BACKGROUND: Following a survey of health professionals' familiarity with 19 non-pharmacologic interventions for cancer pain, evidence-based continuing education sessions were conducted on the five therapies about which the professionals reported being most interested in learning more. METHODS: Three months following the education sessions, the original questionnaire was re-administered. Responses from the original survey were compared with those on the post-education survey.

The paper deals with the problem of training medical personnel with special reference to such important aspects as formation of clinical reasoning, kindness and humane attitude to patients. One of the approaches to this goal is familiarizing the students with memoirs and thoughts of known representatives of medical profession in the framework of an optional specialized course. Methods for the solution of related problems are proposed.

The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics: A Journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics

We seem to prefer that medicine and medical care be provided through altruistic motives. Even the pharmaceutical industry justifies its behavior in terms of altruistic purposes. But economists have known since Adam Smith that self-interested behavior can create large and growing social benefits. This is true for medical care as well as for other goods. First, I consider specifically the case of pharmaceutical promotion, both to physicians and to consumers. I argue that such promotion is highly beneficial to patients and leads to health improvements.

BACKGROUND: Information about brain stem death and donation can be influence the consent rate for donation and its psychosocial effects. The aim of this study was to create a "VIDEO" model that could be used to help physicians to develop communication skills. METHODS: A video recorded 32 simulations of family interviews: 16 under-age and 16 adult donors. They were analyzed during 8 courses conducted in 2008 and 2009. During the VIDEO process, the visual presentation was followed by participants (n=192) discussing interactively the donation situation.

CONTEXT: There have been significant changes in the past decade in both the curriculum and its delivery, in undergraduate medical education. Many of these changes have been made simultaneously, preventing clear assessment of outcome measures. The move away from a pre-clinical science grounding, to an integrated 'problem-based learning (PBL) approach' has been widespread in many countries across the world. PURPOSE: One effect of these changes has been the way in which clinical skills, in particular history and examination are taught.

A questionnaire was sent to 226 general practitioners in the Wellington region to determine the relationship between the general practitioner and complementary medicine. A 77% response rate was achieved. Twenty-four % of doctors had received training and 54% wanted further training in a complementary therapy; 27% currently practised at least one therapy. The majority of doctors (94%) knew of complementary practitioners in their locality; 77% indicated they referred to other medical practitioners for complementary therapies and 80% to nonmedical practitioners.